Solar bike paths

From Greenlivingpedia, a wiki on green living, building and energy

SolaRoad launched a test bike path in November 2014 that generates energy through solar cells embedded in the concrete.

Dutch economics minister Henk Kamp cycled the first 70-metre pilot stretch of bike path on a busy provincial bicycle route north of Amsterdam.[1]

The payback from energy generated is better than what was expected. The company has revealed that its road has generated 3,000kWh of electricity over six months, or enough to power a single person's home for a year.[2]

The path only covers a 230-foot stretch in a Dutch village and provides a prototype for getting more energy from longer, wider roads.

The project aims to harvest the sun's energy using an approach that could eventually also be used on roads.